HYDERABAD,
MAY 20.
From outside, the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad's playground at Tallabasti in Kavadiguda appears to be a place where children can play and the elders can take a stroll. But, just take a walk inside and one would wonder, whether to call it a playground or a `waste' ground. A garbage dump, toilet, open for all, a place to cook and a home for some. This can be called anything but a playground.

For the local residents, this playground has become a curse. Some passers-by use it to attend to nature's call, while others use it for purposes like cooking. The rear portion of the ground is where nomads cook their food, unmindful of the fact that the place where people ease themselves is just a few metres away.

There is a room, rather a hall, known as `office' too in the ground. But surprisingly, there is no caretaker for the ground, so the purpose of the office remains unknown. Taking advantage of this, revellers and other anti-social elements indulge in their `activities' in the night here.

The ground, for the residents, especially womenfolk, staying on the first and second floors in the buildings surrounding the playground, is a cause for embarrassment as well. "All those fellows pass urine there in the open, least bothered about the people who sit or attend to some work in the balcony," rues Sadashiva Rao, a resident.

When this correspondent visited the place, some children were playing cricket in the front portion, while one person was seen passing urine in the rear portion. Heaps of garbage lay in almost all the corners, while some had put up fire and were cooking food.

"All this is leading to an unhealthy and unhygienic atmosphere. Initially, when the park was inaugurated, we thought we had a place to walk and the children a place to play, but now we can do nothing and are helpless. Kindly take this to the notice of the MCH," said SVL Rao, another resident.